How AI is transforming the holiday booking industry
With paperless boarding passes, biometric self-service security and in some places robots to assist customers as they make their way around terminals, it is clear to see that technology is impacting the way we travel.
However, as well as changing journeys themselves, technology is having a significant impact on every part of the travel process.
With the announcement earlier this month that travel agency Thomas Cook had gone into administration, it is clear that even established brands are in danger of collapse. Therefore, the need to keep up with customer demands for a frictionless booking process is of high importance in the industry. Technology is one way of achieving this.
This evident in Booking.com’s travel predictions for 2020. The company believes that 2020 will see travellers increasingly looking to technology to make decisions when planning a trip. Tech-led recommendations will be at the heart of this, with travellers expected to put their trust in artificial intelligence for recommendations of new places to visit, places to stay and things to do, based on preferences and previous habits.
According to Booking.com’s recent research, 44% of those surveyed would be willing to use an app to pre-plan their activities, with 46% happy to use apps to make it faster and easier to research and book.
According to Technavio, the global travel technology market is expected to grow by $6.4bn between 2019 and 2023.
Because of this, those in the travel and tourism industry are increasingly looking for new channels to reach customers in ways that appeal to their need for convenience, speed and user-friendly digital experience.
EasyJet recently launched an feature designed to make “your Instagram travel inspiration a reality”. Found within the easyJet app, Look&Book allows customers to upload an image, and then find out where the image was taken, along with how to book flights to said destination.
Aditi Mehta, Solution Strategy Director for Travel at PROS believes that the near future will see more airlines investing in this type of technology in order to compete:
“Because of this trend, airlines are investing heavily in technology to offer more tailored, personalised experiences via their online and mobile channels. They see this as an opportunity to own the end to end experience for a traveler and help them find exactly what they are looking for when it comes to price, location, time, and add-on services like hotels and tours. The travel companies that are able to provide this experience seamlessly and in real-time will be able to capture market share and have more sustainable business models in this digital economy.”
AI and machine learning based travel planning is also expected to become a key part of creating a more personalised travel experience. Such technology is already used to scour the internet for the cheapest flights, but is now being utilised to organise other elements of a holiday.
Apps such as TripIt, which takes travellers travel plans and automatically orgainises them into an easy-to-understand itinery, have grown in popularity.
